I've been posting here and there already so thought it was time I made an introduction before I move forward with a training log. I'm 59 years old have been somewhat obsessed with weight training and getting strong since I was a young kid and made my first "barbell" with a discarded broomstick and two pieces of wood nailed on the ends. Hit the weights seriously in high school while training for wrestling but I let "life" and its many ups and downs get in the way of establishing a consistent training program. Hit the weights sporadically over the years depending on time, family situation, jobs, and availability of gyms/workout gear. As a single father with two young kids in my 40s, I was in kind of a "survival mode" and returned to the iron as a kind of refuge from the busy days of shuttling kids back and forth and trying to hold down a very stressful job. I built up my own home gym and embarked on a bodybuilding lifestyle from which I've never truly turned back. Over the past 10 years or so, I've incorporated some yoga and other practices into my regimen (especially since my wife of three years is a yoga teacher and massage therapist), but my primary focus is bodybuilding. Right now, I train primarily with free weights out of my home and periodically use some machines next door in our apartment complex gym.

As to eating patterns, I've always been a meat eater until fairly recently; don't remember growing up where there was not some kind of animal products in front of me at the kitchen table. I transitioned into a vegetarian lifestyle about ten years ago after an introduction to yoga, Ayurveda, and going through something of a spiritual transformation. About two years ago, after a long layoff due to injuries, I returned to weight lifting with a major passion, and once again returned to consuming meat, disregarding the important lessons I learned as a vegetarian. While my strength went through the roof and I made major mass gains, I was consistently bloated, and was breathing hard just taking a short walk around the block. My old problems of tendonitis and arthritis also slowly but surely creeped back into my life. Additionally, my blood markers, good during my vegetarian days, were way off - my total cholesterol increased by over 40 points, my PSA score was very high and my blood pressure was up. About three weeks ago, when I decided to move forward with my Ayurveda Practitioner eduction and to retire from my current job after nearly 30 years, I also decided to embark on a lifestyle of health that would allow me to live as long a possible and to help as many people as possible; all this, while also feeding my never-ending desire to be strong and fit (albeit using iron, not broomstick handles). I am now slowly but surely transitioning into a vegan lifestyle and have already learned much from this website and forum. Having lived in a vegetarian mode for a while, much is not new, but I am confident the full transition will take place sooner rather than later (Robert's book will be an important complement to my bodybuilding library). I hope I can impart some of my experiences to others here so they can learn from my own mistakes. I have never formally competed (though I toyed with the idea on numerous occasions), and am content with only being as good as I can be each year for myself, my family, and others. Blessings to you all for choosing this lifestyle, irrespective of the reasons.

Ancient Wellness Tech: achieving wellness through Ayurveda in a modern world.

Thanks Dylan . . . I'm in San Jose; as noted, work out primarily from my home but am toying with the idea of training with a competitive powerlifter out of his gym in the Mountain View area. He is sponsored by an East Cost based supplement company but a truly nice man who has a number of "senior" clients. Looking forward to learning much from the Forum, especially in the dietary realm as the Vegan lifestyle is new for me. Will get a training log up and running over the next couple of days.

Ancient Wellness Tech: achieving wellness through Ayurveda in a modern world.